The Other Side of the Coin
by Jaconda
Summary: After destroying an alien world, the Master returns to Earth and dares the Doctor and UNIT to stop him from stealing a powerful alien artefact.
1. Chapter 1

Senator Aulksama stood on the balcony overlooking the burning capitol. She heard the sound of the buildings shattering, people screaming and the faint sirens of those trained to assist in such crises responding far too late. The air was choked with thick smoke and five floors up from the ground, it swirled around Aulksama in a dark fury.

Across the bridge, a crowd was approaching; angry and filled with violence, the last exhalation of this dying civilisation. Soon they would reach the government buildings, and Aulksama had no illusions about what they would do when they found her.

There was a movement behind her. She didn't bother to turn around.

"I would have thought you would be long gone, Professor," she said.

"And miss this?" The voice was rich and warm, and perhaps a little amused. Aulksama turned to see Keller standing in the middle of the room, cool and unruffled, a faint smile on his face.

"You like it," said Aulksama, studying him. "You are actually enjoying watching my world burn." She sounded disbelieving, but inside she felt as though she had finally discovered a great truth, and the reason that this alien had been so eager to help when her civilisation stood on the brink. She took a step forward, and noted the wariness on the Professor's face. She had nothing to lose, she realised, and so, evidently, did he. She could try to kill him now.

Instead, she sat back in her customary chair, and surveyed her office with a strange, detached calm. Now that the inevitable was here, all her fears seemed to have evaporated. "Is this what you wanted?" she asked the Professor, suddenly curious.

He smiled and took the seat opposite her. "Not at all," he said. "Any advancements I gave you were intended for your benefit. I could have made use of a grateful population. Instead, your greed destroyed you. Petty factions battling for petty scraps of land and the little knowledge that I offered."

She leaned forward. "Are you a god?"

He blinked, startled for a moment, before he burst into easy laughter. "Oh, my dear Senator, you must control these superstitious beliefs of yours."

"Then what are you?"

"Does it matter?"

Aulksama looked away, her gaze drawn back to the balcony, and she heard the rioters, closer now, screaming obscenities. "I suppose not." She stood and reached for the knife carefully tucked away inside her senatorial robes. It was an ornate thing, meant for ceremony only. It had never occurred to her that she might actually use it in violence. Her fingers slipped along the blade. "I've been told it was traditional for a disgraced aristocrat to stab herself." She glanced at him. "But I'm too much of a coward, I'm afraid. I think it might be easier to throw myself from the balcony."

The Professor tutted quietly. "Wasteful, Senator."

"When that crowd find me, and if they can control their bloodlust long enough to stop themselves tearing me limb from limb, they will derive the most painful and lengthy execution their imaginations can come up with. Frankly I'd rather do the job myself."

"You could survive this. Nothing is forcing you to remain in this building."

"No? And where would I go? What would I do?" She stood up, and brushed down her robes. "I intend to honour my oath to the Senate."

"By nobly flinging yourself from its walls? How melodramatic. I hardly think you'll be protecting your world by staining the courtyard with your remains."

"You're welcome to leave." She paused, considering. "Why are you still here? If they find you, they won't hesitate to kill you too."

"I have my own means of leaving this world."

"So what are you waiting for? Or do you wish to watch me die?"

The Professor leaned back in his chair, regarding her with a cool gaze. "I had intended to take you with me."

She raised an eyebrow. "Did you indeed?"

"I have expended a great deal of time and effort on this world, and although the aesthetic outside is pleasing, it's still a poor return on my investment."

"So I'm for sale," she muttered.

"Do you think that the handful of planets your people have visited is all there is out there? I can travel anywhere in space, anywhere in time. I have the complete freedom of the universe. And I can take you with me."

Aulksama met his gaze, aware of how persuasive his voice and his words were, and aware of her own weakness to the offer of exploration. Another temptation, another test, but all that she could lose this time was her own life, and if she stayed then that was certainly forfeit.

"And what do you want in return?"

"Your loyalty, your obedience." The Professor stood up and stepped forward. Aulksama was suddenly afraid, and wondered how she could never have noticed his eyes before and the way that they burned. And there was more, his voice, his posture had changed, so subtly, but there it was now, something different and alien and powerful. "And your oath, Senator."

She looked away; he waited.

"You have it," she told him. Life or death. It was such a simple choice to make.

x-x-x**  
**

Aulksama knew that the Professor was from a civilisation far in advance of her own, though she was familiar with the idea of dimensional transcendentalism. But to see it in reality and used in such a simple, elegant way left her astounded. All those months that the Professor had been working in the government labs and nobody had noticed that one of the storage units was a ship.

A space ship. A time ship. A TARDIS, the Professor called it.

She looked around as they stepped outside, eager to see how far they had travelled.

"But this is the capital's museum," she exclaimed, her attention caught by the smashed glass and broken exhibits.

"Quite correct. There is one artefact I wish to retrieve before we depart."

Aulksama shook her head. "What could we possibly have that would be of use to you?"

"You wouldn't recognise its value."

They walked through several chambers, some with their displays almost wholly intact, before the Professor found what he was looking for. He stopped outside a glass cabinet and, taking an instrument from inside his tunic, neatly cut a hole in the glass.

The small stone tablet that he retrieved from within was unimpressive.

"If that's what you wanted, why didn't you just take it?" asked Aulksama. There had been security at the museum, of course, but with the use of a machine that could materialise anywhere they would hardly have been effective.

"Because, Senator, that would have been exceedingly dull. Your people proved a most entertaining diversion."

She looked away, looked outside. She wasn't comfortable with her feelings; she knew that she should hate this man, for what he had done to her and her world, but instead she was ashamed, of herself, of her people. They had chosen to accept his help, and they had fought over its fruits.

"Are all species as...short-sighted?" she asked quietly.

The Professor gave her a look somewhere between sympathy and contempt. "There are a great many eager for knowledge that they're not ready for. One planet in particular, the one we're visiting next in fact; the natives call it Earth."


	2. Chapter 2

The Master found Aulksama in the first floor drawing room, staring out the window. It was raining again, and she never seemed to tire of watching the precipitation. It was a tiresome habit and one that caused her to become easily distracted from her work.

He coughed lightly and she spun around, glanced guiltily at the papers on the desk. "I'm sorry, I..."

He held up a hand, not wishing to hear any feeble excuses. "Have you located a suitable target?" he asked.

She nodded. "In one of their northern settlements. It has the correct time period and the correct style of artefact." She picked the table from the paper and handed it to him. "But I don't understand the relevance of this to locating the correct artefact."

The Master raised his eyes from the paper, looked at her for a long moment. She was uncomfortable under his gaze, and he had noticed she was becoming less and less able to maintain the cool emotionless façade that she had perfected on her home planet. Stress, of course, and perhaps elements of shock settling in. The most interesting effect had been her reaction when she had left the TARDIS: the sudden pain that she had felt on this over-populated little world.

She had not asked a question, so he did not have to refuse an answer. She had been willing to come with him, willing to work, but now that she had escaped from the devastation of her home planet, he was unsure how she would react to a new world, one where she might imagine she could start a new life. Information was the key to control here; so far he had told her only what she needed to know.

"I am seeking to attract the interest of a group that operate in this county. And one individual in particular."

She shook her head. "But why?"

"My dear Leto, that would take several hours to explain, suffice to say that when I take that artefact from this miserable little planet, I want him to know it was I who stole it and there was nothing that he could do to stop me."

She almost covered the reaction to the use of her name. Her people had some strange ideas regarding names, what they meant, how they should be used. But it amused him to see how unnerved she was simply by the use of her first name, and it served as a constant reminder of all that she had lost.

She didn't inquire further, and he wondered whether it was empathy or political skill that allowed her to determine when to speak and when to drop a point.

"Come with me," he ordered.

They walked downstairs, a single flight, though the house had three floors, not including the cellar, which boasted an impressive selection of wine that the Master had casually made use of. It was an old country house, with big draughty rooms and solid ancient furnishings. The owner had left the country for several months, a doddering old man by the name of Percival Baldwin, to go on an expedition in the Amazon. His sense of security could easily be calculated by a quick look in the garage where he had seen fit to leave two classic cars with the keys neatly kept by the front door of the house itself. It was a perfect base of operations for the Master.

On the ground floor he unlocked the library and pushed the door open, inviting Leto to enter first.

Inside, every wall was covered with books, neatly stacked, most leather bound. It was a beautiful collection. Across the centre of the room ran a long conference table and round the edges sofas and armchairs softened the heavy wooden panelling and beams overhead.

"This," said the Master, waving a gloved hand at the nearest shelf, "is probably the best that humanity has to offer. As a species, they are lamentable, but they have produced the occasional acceptable writer across the millennia."

"This is how they store their information?" asked Leto, taking a book from the shelf at random and flicking through it.

"For most of their history. This century they have managed a primitive form of computer technology. Now listen; it is very likely that you will have to pass as a human at some point in the next few weeks. It isn't enough to look like one, you will have to act like one too. Read, and learn the best of what humanity has to offer. There'll be a television set around here somewhere, where you can learn the worst. And there is a great deal more of that."

"And where will you be?" asked Leto mildly, glancing cautiously up from her book.

"I shall be conducting another little trip. One more clue for their dull minds to play with."

With that, he left the room and Leto sat down to read. Since she had left her homeworld a strange sort of blankness had clouded her mind. It was easy to function, easy to accomplish tasks that had been set and the Master had had no shortage of those. She knew that she should grieve, but that would be impossible for now. She never knew how long she had alone, and for him to find her in that vulnerable state was unacceptable.

From having all the choices in the world, she had come to having none at all, if she wanted to live. And she did so very much want to live. A desperate, pitiable sort of existence, she mused, but at least there was no shortage of home comforts. This world boasted a vast array of foodstuffs, and she had little doubt that other aspects of human life matched this variety, if only she were allowed to see it.

Allowed. How bitter she found that word. But she knew how ruthless Keller was. It had been a horrific situation those last few days on homeworld. The civil unrest had burned whole cities before its wrath and she had ordered extreme measures to control the situation. Measures which, in the end, had merely hastened the world's destruction. There had been objections, of course, and a slew of assassinations in the senior echelons of government. Leto knew which ones she had ordered, and which ones she suspected the good Professor of carrying out. The only thing that had kept her safe was her constant support of his research.

There would be people left, perhaps, in the rubble, a natural immunity was not impossible in a minute percentage of the population. Strange sort of thing to hope, she thought, perhaps it would be better that they were all dead.

When Keller returned he was in an uncharacteristically good mood, and Leto wondered who had paid for that. He came into the library with a tray and strangely shaped pot as well as two mugs.

He caught Leto's curious look and said, "Tea, my dear, an Earth delicacy and arguably the single most important contribution they have made to the galaxy. Does any of this catch your interest?" he asked, indicating the books.

"I understand that these are all fiction," said Leto carefully. "But I would very much like a frame of reference as to which stories have some bearing to reality, or are there really humans no taller than a thumb?"

"Ah," said the Master, arching an eyebrow, pouring the tea. "It's fortunate then that we will be retrieving the correct artefact tomorrow afternoon. UNIT seems to finally have caught on to the unusual nature of the break-ins, and the Doctor will be following straight behind them."


	3. Chapter 3

It was a conceit to conduct the raid in daytime, thought Leto. But she had found Keller to be an extraordinarily conceited individual, and duly noted the weakness as she would for a political rival. Exploiting it, on the other hand, was something she had no intention of doing.

They raced along country roads at a breakneck speed, Keller steering the car easily with one hand. They met few other vehicles on their journey and soon found their way to a small habitation, a few dozen separate buildings, no more. Leto spent her time eagerly looking at everything unfamiliar to her, but decided it best not to ask questions. Earth was bright and wet and green, and so much noisier than anywhere else she had ever been. She had a desire to explore, but kept it carefully hidden.

Their target was to one end of the village, off a little side road. It was nothing at all like Leto had expected: an unremarkable building, unguarded and not a single person in sight. The humans clearly didn't realise the value of what they had stored within. She almost regretted how easy this would be.

They left the car in the driveway, and entered the building. It was as quiet inside as out, perhaps a half dozen visitors. It would be easy enough to use violence, but Keller had been adamant: he wanted a more elegant sign that he had been here than a building full of bodies. His preference was to leave the distinctive classic car outside, his calling card, he had said.

Leto stood back, observing the people here, curious. They appeared interested enough in the exhibits, all apparently connected to local history. To take pride in one's history was something she approved of, and she knew that she did not share Keller's disdain for the people of this world, despite the questionable value of much of the television programming that they broadcast to their populace. She found their literature enjoyable enough, their food endlessly fascinating and she so very much wanted to talk to one of them.

She glanced back at to the reception desk to see that Keller had found it a simple matter to dominate the mind of the man there. His gaze was blank and he was being subjected to a swift interrogation. Leto suppressed a shudder. It was nothing new to her, few on her own planet had been able to resist Keller's hypnosis and those who had generally reduced their life expectancy to a scant few minutes.

Nobody noticed a thing out of place as they walked through the exhibits, stopping at a glass case of Roman artefacts. Leto noted the map by the casing, illustrating the extent of this old empire's reach, and quickly read the inscription beneath it. Keller ordered the man, the curator, to unlock the case and fetch a box for storage.

"We have to take them all?" asked Leto.

"Unless you can determine which of these pieces have been subject to massive gravitational forces merely by looking at them, yes."

Leto looked in the case, carefully examining each object. Some stone, some metal. Coinage, she realised, remembering how they had exhibited similar pieces of old currency on her own world.

"Are these considered valuable here?"

"Not particularly. They date from some two thousand years ago, from a civilisation that is considered one of the greatest in the planet's history. These are common enough remnants."

"Except your artefact."

"Naturally."

The curator returned, carrying a lined and lockable box. He placed it in front of the cabinet and Keller dismissed him with a movement of his hand.

Quickly, the artefacts were wrapped in packing materials and placed securely in the storage box. It wasn't particularly heavy once full, but Keller still summoned the curator back to carry it for them. Leto found it astonishing that none of the patrons noticed anything wrong with this. No questions, no enquiries. An apathy, she wondered, or was this removal of artefacts considered normal here?

Once outside the museum, it was a simple matter for Keller to exert his force of will over the driver of a passing car, forcing one to pull up. The box was placed safely in the boot of the car before Keller and Leto were chauffeured away.

Presently they arrived back at the country house, and the driver was allowed to depart. The rest of the day was taken up setting up Keller's equipment in the cellar. This was where they had arrived in the house and it didn't take Leto long to notice that something very important was missing.

"Where is your TARDIS?" she asked, not looking up as she took chemical after chemical from the box. Running her eye over the equipment, she noted how primitive it seemed and guessed it was either another sign of Keller's arrogance or he did not want to risk giving the humans advanced technology that might be used against him.

"Perfectly safe."

She risked a glance at him, but he did not seem incensed, despite the mild tone which she knew to be dangerous. "Even if I wanted to steal it, I wouldn't know how."

Keller stopped what he was doing. "An underestimation, I feel. You could probably have it take-off through sheer perseverance. Nevertheless, that is not the reason I moved it. I cannot risk it falling into UNIT's hands, or the Doctor's, if I am found before I intend to be."

"They've met you before then?"

He gave a smile that chilled her. "Many times. The Doctor has a penchant for this world."

"Is that why you hate it?"

"I don't recall expressing any such sentiment to you. Derision, perhaps."

"But you do hate it," insisted Leto.

"Can you feel that then?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "No. No, when I look at you, there's nothing. It's like you're not really there at all."

"Your empathic abilities are primitive. In a few millennia your species might have developed a skill worth having."

Leto swallowed, tried not to see the burning cities behind her eyes, the corpses strewn in the streets. The images were harsh and vivid enough for her to smell the burning flesh, hear the screams.

She returned her attention to the chemicals, but Keller moved to stop her, grasping her wrist in his gloved hand. She looked up, into his eyes, and felt the power behind them.

"You don't have to remember," he told her gently. "I can take it away; you can be free of it."

She shook her head. "No."

"You won't even know that they're gone."

"No," she repeated. "I need those memories. I need them. Please."

He nodded, let her go. Neither spoke again as they finished unpacking the equipment. 


	4. Chapter 4

As far as the Master was concerned, UNIT was a clumsy operation at best and they certainly had no sense of subtlety. The alarm that he had rigged round the perimeter of the estate was a simple affair and yet they stumbled into it like the slow-witted apes that they were.

It was not the Doctor, but a soldier. If UNIT were aware that he was here, they would certainly not have sent just one man, and the Doctor would undoubtedly have insisted that he tag along.

They were still investigating, even with numerous witnesses to yesterday's theft. The Master sighed, glanced over at the second bench. At least that project was complete, a little surprise for the Doctor for when he did finally turn up. The artefact, on the other hand, was proving difficult to identify. There were several dozen pieces that were showing the correct deterioration patterns. It seemed that instead of continuing to mimic the pieces around it, the artefact had decided it was easier to hide its own pattern by making everything around it share a similar one.

The Master put down his tools and went upstairs to find Leto. She would have to get rid of the soldier.

He did not believe that she would betray him, not at this juncture. Nevertheless, he did not tell her that he would be listening from the behind the connecting door to the front reception room, nor did he tell her that he had every intention of killing her if she let drop the least hint about his presence in the house.

The van had stopped outside the house, and the engine turned off.

"You know what you have to do?"

Leto nodded, and when the doorbell rang, the Master stepped out of sight.

When she opened the door, she seemed to fall into character. "Good morning," she said brightly, speaking in a perfect BBC English accent. "Can I help you, ah, Corporal?"

" I>Captain /I>," corrected the soldier. "Captain Yates. And yes, madam, I'd like to ask you a few questions if that's alright? May I come in?"

"Oh, of course, of course." Leto stood aside, and led the way through to the front room. "Do have a seat, Captain. Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee?"

"No, thank you." He sat gingerly on the edge of one of the chairs. "Tell me, do you live alone here?"

"I don't usually live here at all. It isn't my house, Captain. But Percy's away in the Amazon, and I did want a bit of a holiday. It's lovely countryside, makes a nice change."

"But you're alone here?"

"Yes." She settled back more comfortably in the couch. "What is this about, Captain?"

"There was a break-in at the local museum yesterday afternoon. A car registered to Sir Percival Baldwin was found outside."

Leto's eyes widened. "I say, are you sure? The car's still in the garage as far as I know."

"He could have had more than on car, madam."

"Oh. Yes, quite right. Well, I've only been here a few days, but I didn't notice any disturbances on the grounds." She leaned forward, dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Truthfully, Captain, Percy never was much good about security and the like. I mean, when I arrived the garage wasn't even locked." She shook her head. "Not even a gardener to take care of the grounds in his absence either."

"No visitors to the house?"

"None at all. I just wanted some peace and quiet for a few weeks." She frowned. "This does seem a strange thing for the army to be concerned with though. Isn't this police work?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes."

"What makes this abnormal?"

"I'm afraid that's classified."

"Ah, well, there's a pity. At least I'd have had one exciting holiday tale."

"Where did you say you worked?"

"I didn't." She stood up, and delivered her most charming smile. "Captain, I'm so sorry for taking up your time. I wish I could have been of more help."

Verbal momentum managed to guide him back to the front door, and it was only as she opened it that he succeeded in taking back some of the initiative. "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your name."

"Leto Aulksama," she answered truthfully.

"Unusual."

"Yes, I suppose it is. Here, anyway. Goodbye, Captain." She took a neat step backwards and shut the door firmly. She stayed still, waiting until she heard footsteps walking away, before locking the door.

As the van pulled out of the grounds, racing back down the country road, the Master reappeared.

"My dear, that was a marvellous performance."

"He was suspicious. I matched the description the witnesses had given him."

"Well, obviously. But it's hardly conclusive evidence. Did he believe you?"

She nodded. "Yes, I think so."

"Right. That should give us a little time. They'll check, of course, though it'll be difficult to get hold of Baldwin, I imagine." He half-turned away, before remembering something. "You told him your name."

"He asked."

"I very much doubt they'll find a match in their records."

Leto closed her eyes, suddenly looking very tired. "What was I supposed to say?"

"Something a little more, ah, human, perhaps?"

"A religious superstition," she said wryly, echoing his words from her last day on her world. "I'm sorry."

"I doubt it will matter." He opened the door that led down to the cellar.

"Who was he?" she asked. "You knew him. Or he knew you. Else you could have spoken to him yourself."

"I'm quite sure that every soldier in UNIT is familiar with my appearance," he said, disappearing down into the cellar.

He heard her come down the stairs after him, and expected more questions. He glanced up at her as she sat at the other side of the work bench. "I am trying to perform a very complex analysis, I cannot have distractions."

She didn't move. "I want to learn."

He sighed softly, turned back to his work. "Then be still, stay quiet and watch."

Leto did as she was told, and the Master found such an eager observer rather flattering to his ego. He began to explain what he was doing and why, careful to keep the explanations suitable for the stage of development that her civilisation had reached.

She asked sensible questions, cautious in her enquiries at first, but more enthusiastic as the day wore on. Studiously, she avoided questions about the artefact itself, and the Master realised that she really didn't want to know what it was for, what it would give him. Her conscience was bothering her, and perhaps not knowing allowed her to project whatever she liked onto the purpose of this search.

Frustration welled within him. The analysis was both delicate and tedious, and though he could work through the night the thought certainly did not appeal. If only the Doctor would hurry up, he could be done with this round of the game; take a half-hearted swipe at his old friend and go to a more hospitable planet. To leave Earth without making sure the Doctor knew he had been there…why that would simply be bad manners. He needed that satisfaction of knowing that the Doctor knew he'd been beaten, that these human pets of his had suffered, that he had gained something.

He looked at Leto, who seemed to be growing ever more tired. She would be of no use to him exhausted.

"Go and get some sleep."

She nodded and stood up, stretching her arms. "Good night," she said. 


	5. Chapter 5

UNIT returned far more quickly than the Master had expected; only a few minutes after he believed that he had identified the correct artefact taken from the museum, and this time it was clear they were here for more than a polite questioning: three armed soldiers were approaching the house.

Leto had obviously noticed as well, and he heard her quick footsteps upstairs. She ran down the stairs to the cellar, pale but composed.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Stall them," ordered the Master. "If they split up, attempt to incapacitate them."

"What about you?"

He turned to face her. "You are concerned for my safety?" She didn't answer. "Yes, I can see that you are. Has it occurred to you that if UNIT capture me, then you will be free?"

"I gave you my word. I do not know your people, but on my world that is not done lightly."

"Your world is dead."

"Why are you trying to anger me?"

He sighed, and took another glance at the scanner. They had only a few minutes before the soldiers arrived. "Perhaps because I find your concern puzzling, my dear. I am quite capable of taking care of myself. Now, please, go and greet our guests." As she ascended the stairs, he called after her, "And remember, you are a British citizen who finds this violation of her rights quite appalling."

- - -

Leto didn't get the chance to open the door. Captain Yates and the two soldiers accompanying him simply walked into the house. She remembered her accent, her poise and strode into the hallway in a fury.

"How dare you! You are aware that this is private property?"

"Madam, this is a matter of national security," answered the Captain.

"Does that mean that a warrant is not required? Captain, I want the name of your commanding officer, and I want to know what you are doing in this house without permission."

"We do have permission. From Sir Percival Baldwin." He took a step towards her and Leto glanced at the revolver he was carrying. "And he has never heard of you. Nor did he expect to hear that anyone was staying in his home."

"There must be some sort of mistake," tried Leto.

"I'm afraid not. Now, things will be a great deal easier for you if you co-operate."

Leto folded her arms, turned away from him.

"We know you're not here alone. We found the driver that you convinced to take you back here. We know that you're working with the Master."

Leto gave him a dispassionate glance. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Where is he?"

"I am the only occupant of this house, Captain." She spoke quite calmly, but was disturbed by what she felt from Yates at that moment: a sudden, violent stab of hate.

He glanced at one of the soldiers. The shorter one, with fair hair and a snub nose. "Search the house," he ordered. "And be careful."

Leto held her breath, but the soldier walked towards the stairway.

When she looked back to the Captain he was watching her, studying her, but she did not look away. "The telephone, please."

She shrugged. "If you insist."

The closest telephone was located in the library opposite, but since the Captain didn't know that, she didn't tell him. Instead she took the corridor towards the kitchen. It turned a corner twice before it ended, and she thought that would give her enough of an opportunity.

The first turn took them out of sight of the guard. She glanced behind her; he had drawn the revolver. It was a precaution, nothing more; she felt no fear from him, no sense that she was a real threat to him.

Leto moved round the second corner a fraction more quickly, using her speed and body to disguise and hide the fact that she'd grabbed an ornament - a thin, smooth sculpture of a woman - from the side-table in the corridor.

She adjusted her footing and in a single smooth movement swung around and slammed the ornament into the Captain's face. His eyes went wide and he collapsed to the floor.

The gun had fallen from his grasp and she scooped it up, checking with a glance that he was still alive. She aimed the gun, but killing him would serve no purpose. He was unconscious and would be so for some time.

Quickly, Leto made her way back to the front door; the soldier there was already dead. Keller, of course. He would have gone to deal with the one upstairs; she could wait. Or she could run. There was a vehicle outside. She had seen it operated, it wouldn't be impossible to drive.

But where could she go? She knew little of this world and, for Keller, betrayal was a mortal sin. If he ever saw her again, he would kill her. 

Leto went through to the front room, waited for Keller. A few minutes past before she heard him at the door, pushing it open.

"Where is Captain Yates?"

"Unconscious. Near the kitchen." Leto turned, raised her gun. Keller wasn't armed, but that gave her little confidence. "Who are you?"

"Do I detect a change in loyalties?"

"Tell me!" She brought a second hand up to the gun, steadying her aim. "He did not call you Keller. And he hated you. Hate, like poison; it was so dark, so putrid. What did you do to him?"

"A lot less than what I did to you."

"We made our own mistakes, and we paid for them."

"What a noble sentiment."

"What I>are /I> you?"

"I am a Time Lord, and I am the Master." As he spoke, she saw it again, the power, the alienness of him. She did not move as he approached her, as he reached out and took the gun from her unresisting hand. "That was a very foolish thing to do, Leto."

"I'll pay for my mistakes too," she said.

"You could only lose your life, and that is not my wish. Now bring the good Captain down to the cellar, and then finish preparations for our departure."

- - -

The Master left Captain Yates tied up in the cellar, with a meticulously set-up poison gas bomb. It would seep slowly into the cellar, only releasing lethal amounts of gas when the door was opened.

To the Master's delight, it seemed that the Doctor had finally shown some interest in UNIT's investigation. As the second car, filled with the Master's equipment, pulled out of the driveway and proceeded along the back road out of the estate, the scanner that Leto was checking identified a ridiculous yellow car heading towards the house.

"It's a shame I won't be able to say hello," said the Master. "But there'll always be another time."

The Master's pleasure was, however, short-lived.

It seemed that UNIT had not been quite so complacent as he had believed and a quarter of an hour after making it to a main road, he noticed that they were being followed. He switched their route, changing back to country roads and hoping to lose them in the twists and turns, however their car was not only distinctive but slow, relative to its modern counterpart.

They were going to be caught.

"These humans," said Leto, "they have a reluctance to kill, don't they?"

"When presented with a choice, they generally prefer to let even their most implacable enemies live, yes." They were driving too fast, and even with the Master's superior hand-eye co-ordination, Leto was afraid that the car would go off the road any moment.

"Then let me jump out. These roads are narrow, and if they do not wish to run me over they'll have to stop. It may give you the time you need to return to the TARDIS."

He glanced at her, frowning. "Is this self-sacrifice or a bid for freedom?"

"If you have another suggestion, I would be happy to follow it."

He nodded. "Alright, Leto. Wait until we reach a corner, keep your head tucked in and roll when you reach the ground." They came to a straight and the Master lifted his hand from the gear stick, touched her cheek. "Do not betray me."

She looked into his eyes. "I won't."

She opened the door, but held it pressed against the car, waiting. As the car swerved, she watched the speedometer drop, and then she jumped.

For a moment, she felt nothing, flying through air, then she hit the ground, hard. She rolled, felt her arms cut against the ground as they protected her face. With a gasp, she realised that she had stopped and, using the last of her strength, she pulled herself onto the road.

There were waves of pain and she wondered if she'd broken any bones. She hadn't heard any cracks, but everything was beginning to look very far away. The UNIT vehicle was drawing closer, she could hear it.

But then everything went black.


	6. Chapter 6

When Leto woke, she found herself in a soft warm bed. She kept very still, though she longed to stretch her aching limbs. There was someone else in the room, no, two people, and they were talking together, quietly so she could only hear the murmur of voices.

She sat up and looked around. A bright, clean room.

"Ah, you're awake. Good." One of the men who had been talking, a military man. "I'm Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. This is the Doctor." He indicated the man next to him.

"You're like him," she said. "Like the Master."

The Doctor frowned, sat by the bed. "We're of the same species, my dear."

"It's frightening to look at you; it's as though you don't exist."

He reached out and clasped one of her hands between two of his. "Flesh and blood, just like you. You're not human then?"

Leto shook her head. "I…I was brought here."

"Why? What is the Master doing on Earth?" asked the Brigadier.

"I don't know; I'm sorry." She touched her head. "It's so noisy here, my head. Your people are so very noisy."

"We'll go soon," said the Doctor. "Just a few questions."

She nodded, smiled. "Alright."

"The Master, do you remember what happened? What he was doing?"

She knew how to answer that; Keller often made sure that victims of his hypnosis did not remember what they did under his control. "No." She frowned, shook her head as though confused. "I can't remember." She looked up at the Doctor. "I can't…why can't I remember?"

"It's all right. Don't worry about it; it's only to be expected. Can you tell me your homeworld? I may be able to return you there."

"It doesn't matter. It's dead now. Destroyed, all of it."

He looked at her, into her eyes, and the compassion she saw in his almost convinced her to tell him the truth. "I'm sorry. We'll let you rest now."

"Thank you."

She lay back down on the bed curled beneath the blankets and tried to sleep.

- - -

"Doctor, I expected you'd come for a gloat, sooner or later." The Master stood in his cell, watching the Doctor through the bars. He had spent most of his time pacing, but now he stood perfectly still, hands clasped behind his back.

"That's more your style," said the Doctor. "No, I came to ask what you were doing at that house."

"Do you really expect me to tell you?"

"Not really, but I expect Leto will recover her memory in time. We'll find out, and whatever you were doing, it's over now."

"Ah, so you've taken her into your tender care, have you?"

The Doctor's jaw tightened; he was angry. "You took her from her planet, forced her to obey you. Did you destroy her world too?"

"I saved her, Doctor," he said mildly. "If it were not for me, she would be dead."

"You used her."

The Master shrugged. "That too."

"You'll never learn, will you?" said the Doctor, turning to leave.

"How is the charming Captain Yates?" asked the Master.

The Doctor stopped, gave him a hard look. "Recovering. Though he hasn't regained consciousness."

"Ah, well, a miscalculation on my part. I see you are unharmed. How did you escape from my little trap?"

He gave a tight smile. "I'll let that be something for you to think about while you're in here."

- - -

Later that evening the Doctor returned to the medical wing to visit Leto. Jo followed him in, closing the door softly behind her. They found her awake and sitting up in bed, reading. The colour had returned to her face, though there was still plenty of cuts and bruises visible on her arms.

"How are you feeling?" asked the Doctor, sitting by the bed. Jo brought a chair over and sat next to him.

"Much better, thank you. May I ask what happened?"

"We found you lying on the road, unconscious. Seems the Master pushed you from the car."

"The Master?"

"Don't worry, my dear, we've caught him. He's in a cell downstairs. What I was wondering is what we're going to do about you."

"What do you mean?" asked Leto, drawing back from him.

"No, no, it's nothing for you to worry about. But if you've no home to return to, and you're trapped on Earth, well, we'll have to make sure that you have a place here. I don't think the Brigadier would have any objection to you staying at UNIT, at least in the short term. You'd be safe here, and it would give you time to adjust to Earth culture."

"That's very kind of you, Doctor, and I don't mean to be ungrateful, but is it necessary to stay on this world?" She glanced at Jo, gave her an apologetic look. "You do not mean to be, but you humans are a very noisy people. It's…it can be difficult to concentrate." She looked back to the Doctor. "You are a Time Lord; don't you have a TARDIS?"

"I do, my dear, but it, like me, is currently trapped on Earth. I had hoped I might be granted a sort of special dispensation to return you to your world. They've done it before." He sounded wistful, and Jo noticed it too.

"Can we get you anything?" she asked. "I know the food in here isn't very good."

"Oh no," Leto told her. "The food is fascinating, but, ah, would it be possible to have another book?"

"Yes, of course." Jo smiled.

"Thank you."

When they left, Leto caught the first few sentences of their conversation as the door was pulled close.

"Noisy?" asked Jo, confused, not annoyed.

"There are very few humans with any real psychic abilities, Jo, but Leto comes from a planet where empathic abilities are considered normal. They'll have some mental defences to keep their thoughts protected."

"So it's like we're shouting all the time?"

"Yes, something like that."

Leto fell back against her pillow, closing her eyes. These were kind people, and they gave their trust so freely, accepting her at her word. They did not frighten her, and when the Doctor said she would be safe here, she believed him.

It would be so easy, too easy to stay. She gave a ruthful smile; it might be safe, but how dull it would be to be trapped on this primitive world.

When she woke, it was still daytime. She found her clothes and shoes in the bedside cabinet and dressed quickly. She was careful as she moved about, testing her muscles to see how extensive the damage was. There were dull aches through her body, but it was nothing that wouldn't be sorted after a few days of rest, though she did not expect such a luxury.

Leto turned the door handle, and found it unlocked. Outside, there was a soldier. She smiled, surprised to find that they were not quite so lacking in caution as she had assumed.

"I'm sorry to bother you," she said, "but I've been cooped up in bed for hours. I wondered if it would be possible to go for a walk?"

"I'm afraid not, Miss. But the Doctor did say to take you down to the lab if you got restless. This way."

The Doctor greeted her with a friendly smile when she entered his laboratory, and Jo politely asked if she'd like a cup of tea. While she went to fill up the kettle, Leto sat down by the workbench, taking a closer look at what the Doctor was doing. She recognised the equipment, the set-up, it was almost exactly what the Master had worked with in the cellar.

Sitting right in front of the Doctor was the artefact itself.

"What is that?" she asked.

"That's what I'm trying to find out," he told her. "I don't suppose you can remember anything about it."

Leto shook her head. "I'm sorry; I've tried." It wasn't entirely untruthful.

"Here's your tea," said Jo, passing her a mug, then another to the Doctor. Leto accepted it gratefully, sipping at the milky liquid as the Doctor worked.

"What's going to happen to him?" asked Leto.

"Prison, I should think."

"They don't execute criminals?"

"Not in this country, no. Not any more."

Leto took another gulp of her tea. "Why does he want to kill you?" she asked.

The Doctor didn't reply immediately. She watched him carefully, trying to guess what he was thinking. "We were friends, a very long time ago. Back then we seemed to want the same thing, but we disagreed about the means."

She didn't ask anything more, it was obvious it was not a topic he wished to discuss.

Instead she talked about the books she had read, and he seemed to appreciate her interest in Earth's literature. Jo, too, had suggestions about what to read, though it seemed that the Doctor didn't have the faintest interest in the sort of books she liked. "But reading's supposed to be fun," she protested. "Sometimes it's nice to kick back with something light from the bestseller list. It can't all be deep themes and streams of impenetrable prose."

And if they believed that she would betray them, they made no sign of it. They were cautious, not mistrustful, but she needed more freedom if she were to help the Master to escape.

As it turned out, she didn't have to.

"Good evening, Doctor." The Master stood in the doorway to the lab, quite unharmed and armed with a revolver. "Your UNIT friends really do have a lot to learn about security."


	7. Chapter 7

Leto carefully hid her relief; she glanced at Jo, saw how frightened she was and assumed a suitable expression.

"I suppose you'll be wanting your equipment back," said the Doctor.

"No, not at all. Consider it a gift. I would, however, like the artefact returned."

Somewhere in the building an alarm sounded, and Leto heard booted feet running overhead.

"Looks like you're a bit short on time."

The Master smiled, stepped into the room and shut the door. "No, I don't think so. I have three hostages. I very much doubt the Brigadier will wish to charge in, guns blazing. Right, now if you would be so kind as to give me the artefact, Miss Grant."

"So what's it for then?" asked the Doctor.

"You don't recognise it?" The Master took the artefact carefully from Jo's hands, quickly pocketing it.

"Well, it is camouflaged."

"You always did lack skill in the practical application of science, my dear Doctor."

"If it's still mimicking the Roman remains, then I'd say you haven't had any success either."

Leto barely listened to the argument, the exchange of barbs was clearly a familiar pattern to both parties. The Master had the artefact, he should leave, now, before he was discovered, but this Doctor did something to him. She remembered how efficient, how ruthless, how well-planned every step had been when he began to research a cure on her homeworld, but now he was being so easily distracted by the Doctor. It must be what the Doctor wanted, of course, to give the soldiers enough time to locate their escaped prisoner, prevent him from leaving the building.

She looked round the room. More than one exit, and she doubted the windows were secure. There was even an open corridor to her left; an open corridor and, yes, there was someone there. She moved back against the wall, slipping into a chair and trying to appear as innocuous as possible. It didn't matter, both the Doctor and Master were far too concerned with exchanging insults.

"Well, Doctor, I think it is time we were leaving."

The soldier moved into the laboratory, not quite far enough, and levelled his gun at the Master. "Not so fast, mate. You make one move and I'll put a bullet in the back of your head."

The Doctor smiled, satisfied, and the Master slowly put up his hands. "Ever punctual, Sergeant Benton," he said.

"Right, now turn around. Slowly."

The Master did as he was told, watched the Sergeant with a level gaze. He did not so much as glance at Leto.

Either the Doctor had Jo had forgotten she was there, or they had dismissed her as a threat. They said nothing as Benton stepped into the room.

It was far enough. Leto swept off the chair and gave a swift punch to the Sergeant's neck. She wasn't particularly strong, but she knew where to hit, and it seemed that human physiology was close enough to her own for the punch to still be effective.

As he fell to the floor, the Master turned back to the Doctor and Jo, once more levelling the revolver at them. Leto picked up the sergeant's gun, then grabbed some wiring from the workbench, quickly tying him up.

"Let's go," snapped the Master. As they left the lab, he kept the gun pressed against Jo's back.

When they got outside, the Doctor called for the soldiers to stay back, and they made their way towards his strange yellow car.

Just once, he caught her eye, and she saw the disappointment and dismay in his face.

- - -

They were back at the house. Undoubtedly UNIT had followed, at a distance, and it was only a matter of time before the Brigadier attempted to retrieve the hostages. There was still equipment here, carefully hidden and untouched by UNIT.

The Master glanced up as Leto descended the steps into the cellar. "They're secure," she said. "And I would very much like to know why we are still on this planet."

"Was that a demand?" He was irritated by her tone of voice, by her presumption.

"It isn't safe; it isn't secure. Why do you stay here?" she asked.

He sighed, decided to answer. There was, after all, no reason not to tell her and for the moment he was satisfied that her allegiance to him was secure.

"Because there is a time-space lock on the artefact. Its creator was well aware of who might seek it out and wanted to make sure it did not fall into the hands of those too primitive to comprehend its power. If it enters the vortex still in this state it will be useless." 

"But in the capital…"

He interrupted her. "That piece had quite a different method of keeping its secrets. Now, please, I must concentrate. Keep a watch on those two upstairs and if anything turns up on the scanner let me know at once."

- - -

Leto brought a cup of water from the kitchen to the hall where Jo and the Doctor were cuffed to the radiator. "I thought you might be thirsty."

"Thank you," said Jo, and Leto put the cup to her lips, tipping it gently so she could sip at it. Her bound hands did not give her enough freedom of movement to do it herself. When she had had had enough Jo nodded and Leto turned to the Doctor but he shook his head.

She turned to go, but the Doctor spoke. "Leto, why are you helping the Master?"

Her grip tightened on the cup, and she wished that she had just kept walking. But something about the Doctor's tone made her want to answer. She looked at him, but saw no accusation in his eyes, just a mild curiosity.

"If he had not taken me from my world, I would have died. My obedience is the price of my life." She walked towards him, crouched down so that her face was level with his. "You thought he was controlling me, but no, I know what he is, what he is capable of and I made my choice."

"You don't owe him anything," said the Doctor quietly. "He destroyed your world."

Leto shook her head. "He provided a catalyst, perhaps, but the seeds of destruction had been long planted. We accepted his help willingly, he cannot be held to account for what we chose to do with that knowledge."

"And what did you do?"

She gave a tight smile. "He agreed to work on a cure for a plague that had infected my world. As proof of faith, he gave us something quite different; weapons far more destructive, more precise than anything we had yet created. But one particularly ambitious family decided to make free use of that knowledge. In their haste for power they bombed a hospital." She paused, her eyes flicking away, steeling herself to finish. "It wasn't just a hospital. It was a bio weapons research plant. We created our own plague, Doctor, and then we let it loose."

"I'm sorry."

"I don't want your pity."

"I'm not offering you pity. I'm offering to help you. You've suffered, you're hurt and I don't believe that this is what you want to do."

She stared at him, her face tight with anger. "Don't presume to tell me want I want, Doctor."

"The Master is using you."

"I know that."

He leaned towards her, as close as he could, looking into her eyes. "Leto, don't you want your freedom?"

She stood up and stepped away from him. "To be honest, Doctor, I wouldn't know what to do with it."

The low buzz of an alarm distracted her from anything else the Doctor would have said. She ran to the kitchen, glanced out the window, but saw nothing incongruous and then turned to the scanner. UNIT were arriving and in no small numbers.

And then there was an explosion in the hall.

Leto flung herself to the floor, but there was no sound, no crumbling masonry falling around her. She realised that it hadn't been an explosion at all but a tremendous release of light: bright, white and enough to blind her for a few seconds.

She dashed out of the kitchen, past the Doctor and Jo - still disorientated - and down the stairs to the cellar.

The Master was there, a triumphant expression on his face. He turned to her, holding what she assumed to be the artefact. It was beautiful now: like glass holding liquid light, colours swam through it and for an instant she thought she could make out symbols pressing against the surface, struggling to escape.

The Master noticed her then. "Success, Leto. Time for us to leave this wretched little world."

She was still staring at the artefact, she had barely heard him but then she remembered, "UNIT are on their way."

He nodded. "Right then, time for the Doctor to make himself useful." 


	8. Chapter 8

The curtains upstairs were drawn to prevent any sniper shots, but it would only be a matter of time before the Brigadier tired of waiting and stormed the house.

Leto considered the Doctor to be a far more valuable hostage, but he was the one that the Master released. The cuffs were unlocked and as he stood up he exchanged a glance with Jo, just a moment, but Leto felt the comfort that the young woman drew from that brief acknowledgement.

"Well?" demanded the Doctor, turning to the Master.

"You're going to go back to your UNIT friends."

"Buying you time?"

"Precisely, Doctor. And I expect you to do as you're told, or Miss Grant will be the one to suffer."

The Doctor glared at his adversary, but said nothing. The Master opened the door and invited the Doctor to leave the house. He pulled his velvet jacket straight and, with a final glance at Jo, stepped outside.

The Master turned to Leto. "Take one of the guns, and make your way out by the gardens. They're overgrown enough to give you cover. Create a distraction then make your way round the vehicles as best you can. I'll meet you there."

"Right."

Leto sped away, picking up her gun and darting out the kitchen door. There were no shots as she dived into the undergrowth. Staying perfectly still she counted away the seconds until a minute was up and then began to make her way towards the woods that lay some hundred metres hence.

For the first time since she had arrived on Earth she let down her mental shields and tried to sense where the soldiers were. The sting in her head was immediate, and she bit down on her lip to stop herself crying out. But she could feel them now; she knew where they were and she knew that she could get to the cover of the trees without being detected.

Once past the tree line, she saw the first soldier and raised her gun, firing twice in quick succession. At least one of the bullets hit him and he went down. Leto moved on.

Her gunfire had caused quite a commotion and whatever attention had been given to the Doctor's departure from the house now seemed to be refocused on her. She increased her speed, circling as best she could and thankful that, though alien, these humans had minds that she was capable of seeing.

She had made it back to the edge of the woods, around her she heard the echo of minds and the shouting of orders; men running as they were hastily redeployed.

Too much noise, she thought, trying to see the best route to where most of the vehicles were.

Then there was another gunshot. And Leto didn't realise that it had been aimed at her until she saw the blood spreading out across her clothes.

She tried to move, but her body refused to co-operate and she fell back against the trunk of a tree.

Her eyes closed.

- - -

There was nothing to do in the cell and the boredom was beginning to grate. Her shoulder had been bandaged, but whatever painkillers Leto had been given were beginning to wear off and the ache was terrible.

She lay on the thin bunk, her eyes closed, trying to sleep.

"Good afternoon."

Some time later, she didn't know how long, but it was the Doctor and not one of the humans whose questions she'd been studiously ignoring. Leto sat up, wincing a little as she shifted her weight.

"How long am I going to be kept here?"

"Until your trial, I expect."

"Ah." She nodded and stood, facing the Doctor, quite calm. "But they don't kill their criminals."

"No, but the soldier you shot died, and murder is still a very serious crime."

"What happened to him?" She didn't need to say his name; the Doctor wasn't stupid.

"Gone. With that artefact, whatever it was."

"Good."

The Doctor took a step towards the bars, his expression serious. "Leto, you are going to be on this planet for a long time, if you co-operated it would be easier for you."

"I don't know what the Master was doing."

"I see." The Doctor turned to go.

"Wait!" She approached the bars. "I really do not. But if I'm going to be locked up anyway…"

"…something more isolated could be arranged."

"But only if I co-operate with you."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, I'd try to convince the Brigadier anyway. But he'd be more amenable if you co-operated."

Leto brushed a hand against her forehead, suddenly very tired. "I saw the artefact, as it really was. Just for a few seconds. And there were symbols. I don't know what they meant, but I do remember what they looked like." She reached a hand through the bars. "Let me show you, Time Lord."

He took her hand, and still it was like he was some particularly convincing hallucination, but she sent the memory anyway. He closed his eyes and she let go.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean it to hurt."

"No, I'm fine. It's just been a long time since…yes, I recognise those, an old dialect." He frowned, eyes distant.

"What do they mean?" she asked.

"Kingmaker."

- - -

_So ends The Other Side of the Coin._

The next story in the cycle, Kingmaker, follows the Master as he discovers the secrets of the artefact.


End file.
